The Malik Report

The Blackhawks’ play put Quenneville in a better mood in his postgame news conference. He was often frustrated even after wins in the first round.

“Much better from our prior series,” Quenneville said. “What we’re talking about in our team game was in place. Had some pace, had some speed, zone time. I thought everybody contributed.”

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was on the other side of the spectrum. He was now the coach searching for something more from his team.

“We got to get up to speed because we haven’t played like that in a while,” Babcock said. “We got to get back at her and get playing at a high tempo because obviously they’re playing at a level tonight we’re not playing at.”

If Quenneville thinks the Hawks played really well…. they kinda’ lived off DET turnovers last night. If DET can manage to stop the turnovers again, what exactly will CHI do then? If no for Brendan Smtih alone last night the Hawks would have had far more trouble generating offense.

I personally don’t think CHI played a great game last night, or else they’d have blown DET right out of the water given DETs mistakes. I’m surprised that Quenneville would claim so (maybe that’s why DET has owned him in the playoffs up until now?). Like I said in the A2Y liveblog, everyone kept waiting for ANA for up their game last series, claiming they would…. and they never did. What if the very same thing happens to CHI?

Let’s see where it goes.

That DET, with all their errors, made CHI feel they played a better game than the entire 1st round series is also a real slap to Minny. If CHI thinks that, Minny must have been truly awful.

I am very comfortable with Q saying this, so they can rest on their laurels and think playing the same level of game on Saturday will be enough. because I guarantee the Wings are not happy with their level of play, and will step it up.

they kinda’ lived off DET turnovers last night. If DET can manage to stop the turnovers again, what exactly will CHI do then?

To be fair, other than Smith, most of the Wings turnovers were caused by pressure from the Hawks forwards. Hell, most of the time they had three guys in on the forecheck. St. Nick would have picked them apart. Smith, Kindl, Cola and Q? Not so much.

For me, the positive out of last night’s game was the fact that Kane (the “gasp-inducing” passer) and Toews were pretty invisible. If Hank and Pav can continue to make that happen, the Hawks won’t find this to be an easy series.

The Wings played bad, but this wasn’t them playing bad and giving Chicago the game.

If you had asked me after 40 minutes, I would’ve agreed that the praise being heaped on the Hawks’ performance was too much. At that point in the game, it looked a lot like something we’ve seen as Wings fans a number of times—a dominant puck possession team having the puck a lot, cycling a lot, passing a lot, and even shooting quite a bit, but in reality, most of the possession was on the perimeter, and the shots were generally pretty average. A couple stellar stops from the opposition goalie, and the game is closer than it might seem it should be.

But in the third period, there was no doubt. The Wings had an intermission to rest, still tied at 1. That was their opportunity to reset and play for the steal. Instead, they did come out poor, but Chicago came out and took it to the next level, where the perimeter possession moved to the high circles and the slot, and the shots started turning into great chances instead of average tosses on net.

The Wings are better than they played, and Howard’s performance was great. These two things are enough for the Wings to make it tough for the Hawks going forward. But last night there was a really really really good hockey team on the ice, and they won, plain and simple.

About The Malik Report

The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.